We shot this short video a couple days ago taking a look at tank author and researcher Col. Robert Icks. Icks (1900-1985) was one of the first people to write extensively on the topic of tanks and armored vehicles. His work would inspire many other researchers and writers to explore the topic.

Over at his youtube channel, World of Tanks chief North American researcher Nicholas “The Chieftain” Moran has posted part 1 of his observations from the recent Tank Fest 2018 event at the Tank Museum at Bovington.

In case anyone is wondering what we have been up to the last couple week, we have been busy planning and creating a new video series we call The Tanks of World War II. Here is the first episode. We are working on episode two as we type this. It will feature (hopefully) better green screen keying, we are still working on the format and technical issues a bit. Expect to see the next episode next Tuesday!

Series Description:

This series will be the first to document almost every model of tank that saw service in World War II in roughly chronological order. We will start with the Polish campaign of 1939 and work our way through until we reach the end of the conflict in 1945, with a tentative schedule of 90 episodes. The emphasis of each video will not only be a technical description of the tank, but more importantly, we will attempt to put the vehicle within its proper historical context.

We will try to explain how each tank came into being, looking at the various factors that went into its design and production. Questions such as how did a countries particular military doctrine influence the design of the tank they decided to build? How did their industrial capabilities, or perhaps more importantly, how did their industrial limitations affect the design? And of course, what larger political and strategic demands affected the design, production and introduction of these tank designs?

We will evaluate these tanks as well, doing our best to present a nuanced judgement looking at a variety of criteria. Of course, first and foremost is the combat history of the vehicle. Did it perform on the battlefield as hoped for? Also, we need to look at whether or not the vehicle fit the particular needs of the military force that it was issued to. Was this design a technological dead end or did it provide a basis for future development? And finally, was this particular tank design one that helped shape the outcome of the war, either in a positive or a negative way for its user?

These are the types of questions we hope to answer on The Tanks of World War II. We think the story of these armored behemoths is a fascinating bit of history and we are excited to tell it. If you find these machines as interesting as we do, then please, follow us as we embark on this journey through the The Tanks of the Second World War.